The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Deepwood Dancers preparing for Special Olympics World Games
Troupe will travel to Abu Dhabi this month to compete in demo sport
The Lake County Dance Team, dubbed the “Deepwood Dancers,” has been accepted to compete in a team performance (demo sport) representing the United States at the 2019 Special Olympics World Games.
The Games will be hosted in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, March 14-21.
The event marks the first time a Special Olympics World Games will be held in the Middle Eastern North Africa region since the movement’s founding by Eunice Kennedy Shriver more than 50 years ago.
More than 7,500 athletes will be representing 170 countries in 24 sports.
Regionally, about 180 participants from almost 30 different Special Olympics programs will be showcased.
According to the Special Olympics, it will be the largest humanitarian sports event in 2019.
The Deepwood Dancers are a new addition to the Lake County Special Olympics program and have been performing across Lake County the past two years to help raise awareness for those with special needs. The group also recently performed for the Berea Kiwanis Club.
The team was formed in 2017 and participated at the World Dance Days in Graz, Austria, the same year.
The current eight-person Deepwood Dancers troupe, five of which traveled to Austria, range from ages 16 to 61.
Dancers will perform in four different disciplines — ballroom, streetdance/hip-hop, ballet and specialty — in different categories, such as Solo, Duos, Couples and Teams.
“Dancesport is now a demonstration sport,” said
Tana Habat, coach and director of operations for Deepwood Foundation, who traveled and participated with the unified team in 2017. “The goal is to make it an official Special Olympic competitive sport within the next two years.”
The trip was funded completely by the athletes, their families, and the community and private donors, as the event is associated with Special Olympics and separate from the Lake County Board of Developmental Disabilities/Deepwood and the Deepwood Foundation.
“It’s incredible considering they had only about a month and a half to raise the money,” Habat said. “Any parents or families had to pay for themselves.”
Choreographers Trish Pekarcik and Rachel Arnold will also join the dancers in Abu Dhabi.
Lynnmarie LandweiPhillips, director of public relations and professional services for Lake County Board of Developmental Disabilities/Deepwood, said the global opportunity for the team encompasses much more than a mere sporting competition.
“Abu Dhabi is a very wealthy community and when it comes to mental health and disabilities, they have a very different view,” she said. “They’re not as accepting and it’s not as well integrated into their communities and cultures, so for them to be hosting Special Olympics World Games and to have thousands of people with disabilities descending on their community for 10 days is huge.”
When the team was notified they were traveling across the world to compete, their enthusiasm was boundless.
“The dedication they have and how they look
The Games will be hosted in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, March 14-21.
out for each other shows they really are a team,” Habat said. “They’ve worked so hard. We submitted a video of their routine and were accepted Dec. 21. I’m still in shock, until, I think, we get on the plane.
“In preparation, we practice twice a week, and the support from the community has been overwhelming. We’re very excited for them. And this is an amazing way to continue being a part of the movement to get dance included in the array of Special Olympic talents.”